The Pouchy Pouch

My friend, Nikki, and I are teaching a beginning crochet class at school this year.  The name of the class is still a work in progress, but one thing we have decided on is which stitches we will introduce in the first trimester of the class.  One trimester equals 3 1.5 hours classes, so we've had to be realistic about how much we can actually teach.

Our plan is to teach how to hold your crochet hook, chaining, single crochet stitches, and how to maintain your tension.  There may be some frogging in there as well.  The goal is that all participants will crochet their very own single crocheted scarf and by class #2, be able to work on a nifty pouch project.  The Pouchy Pouch from Maize Hutton's blog, is fantastic because it is created entirely of chains and single crochets.  Her original pattern was created using linen yarn and a C hook, but I tested it using worsted weight yarn and a G hook.

Here is the result:  a 5 inch tall pouch easily worn under your clothes or on top of them to hold a cell phone, your money (the paper kind) and/or a lip balm.

I made mine like this:

Begin by ch 11.
Sc in the second ch from hook and in each st across (10 sts).
Ch 1 and turn.  Sc in each st across (10 sts).
Repeat until you have 32 rows.

See Maize's blog for the folding and stitching of the sides.  She explains it the best.  As you decide how many to chain for the strap, stop every so often and place it around your neck to see where you would like it to fall.  In Maize's pattern, she chained 200 for the strap, but I used significantly fewer, about 110.  In retrospect, using worsted yarn, a chain of about 90 would put the pouch in the ideal position for me.  You'll need to test this though so that it works for you.

To personalize this more, you could add some sequins or buttons.  You could also crochet a fold over flap to close off the top of the pouch.  The possibilities are endless!

Enjoy!